Clemson hopes to build on defensive effort in Chick-fil-A Bowl win

Clemson safety Xavier Brewer could sense that no matter the adversity faced by his Tigers that their confidence never wavered during Monday's victory over LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.

By ERIC BOYNTONeric.boynton@shj.com

ATLANTA — Clemson safety Xavier Brewer could easily sense that no matter the deficit or the adversity faced by his Tigers that their confidence never wavered during Monday's 25-24 victory over LSU in the Chick-fil-A Bowl.The fifth-year graduate student has been around the program for a long time, including the entirety of coach Dabo Swinney's tenure, and after 34 starts he knows a thing or two about the psyche of his teammates.“There was no doubt at all,” Brewer said. “I was walking down the sidelines saying ‘Believe, believe,' and looking into everyone's eyes, from the walk-ons to the starters, I knew everyone believed.”Believing has sometimes been difficult during Brewer's five years, where the lone bowl victory was a rather uninspiring one over Kentucky in the 2009 Music City Bowl.The Tigers had lost five of their last six bowl appearances, including ones to the likes of Kentucky and South Florida, and the last time Clemson was spotted in the postseason was last season's humiliating 70-33 Orange Bowl loss to West Virginia.Clemson entered Monday's contest lacking in national respect due to the current porous level of the ACC and smarting from a fourth consecutive loss to rival South Carolina to close the regular season. While the Tigers had accumulated a 10-2 mark, they dropped their lone two marquee matchups to Florida State and USC.Ninth-ranked LSU, a perennial SEC and national power, represented the level of opponent that could provide Clemson a spot of redemption for not only its past failures during bowl season, but simply for being unable to come out victorious in this year's two biggest matchups.Not only did Clemson win Monday, but it's the way the Tigers gutted out a tough evening against a foe that's forged its tremendous success mainly based on bullying opponents all over the field. Once again the Bayou Tigers displayed their resident toughness on the legs of freshman tailback Jeremy Hill and a fast and hard-hitting defense, but surprisingly Clemson's defense puffed out its collective chest and was equal to the task.It's rare that the defense has carried the day for an offense that has mostly pummeled the opposition this season, but the manner of Clemson's victory culminated the year on a high note and could speak volumes for what's to come. “We really had a chip on our shoulder after letting the offense down against South Carolina and Florida State this year,” Brewer conceded. We wanted to play well, get them the ball and get off the field after third down.”With star receiver Sammy Watkins lost to injury on the game's second offensive play, quarterback Tajh Boyd and receiver DeAndre Hopkins played an impressive game of pitch and catch throughout, but even their record-setting numbers paled in comparison to the defense's surprising performance.LSU was averaging 180 rushing yards per game before Clemson held the Tigers to only 99. LSU was only 3 of 13 on third down, was sacked six times, totaled only nine first downs (to Clemson's 32) and was manhandled in time of possession by nearly 13 minutes. After LSU took a 24-13 lead with 4:49 left in the third, the Tigers netted only 5 yards and gained no first downs the remainder of the game.“Those of you who saw our defense play against Auburn many moons ago to open this season, that was a different group that was out there (Monday),” Swinney said. “Those young bucks have grown up and played extremely well. Our depth showed up and I'm really proud of how they physically fought at the line of scrimmage, at the point of attack. Again, we had some adversity and just kept playing and kept believing.”